Of Swords and Marbles
by The Ocean Storm
Summary: What would happen if a mistake by a group of multiversal guardians left a newly born Link with Shirou's reality marble. An attempt to create a Legend of Zelda and Fate/stay night crossover seeing as their aren't any others.
1. Prologue: Beginnings

_Alright, seeing as this story has a few interesting elements to it I guess I should warn you about the more… Troublesome ones:_

_This will be a self-insert fic_

_This will involve a few rather rule-screwing effects (At least one)_

_This is my first attempt at fan fiction _

_I don't know how the beta system works_

_If you have a problem giving a story with these things in it a chance then you will likely want to leave now but for the rest of you…_

_Hopefully you will enjoy this crossover. (Please excuse the lengthy world building at the start)_

Start

Human beings have come up with countless forms and creators for all of existence. In their thousands of years of sentience they have theorized beginnings such as God, the Big Bang, and human belief. Yet even today we struggle to understand how some of the things we can see clearly actually work, let alone intangibles like time or planes of existence.

Suppose however that in one such plane of existence that several of these answers had been worked out. That while an unknown power predating even the gods created a number of 'Core' worlds much like our own, the rest had been shaped from the collective subconscious of the humans living within these original worlds.

Such a complex, and in this case unstable, multiverse would require an uplifted group of beings to act as a sort of maintenance crew. A maintenance crew who's upper members would call upon and recruit the countless races and forces of their own plane to 'trim the necrotic branches of creation' as the need came for them to do so. This group would come to call themselves the Aldarcal in honor of their forgotten forbearers.

Within one of the many watch stations of this order, a single humanoid watched over the countless alternate timelines and worlds that were growing, dying, and being born constantly. The eight foot tall male found himself tapping his fingers as boredom began to overcome his discipline.

"Why is it that nothing interesting happens when it's my turn for watch duty?" He grumbled to himself while giving a cursory glance over his charge.

"Most likely it's because you're not hot enough for it" a cloaked shape answered as it entered the room, a cup of black coffee in one hand. "After all Signman, you're really tall, blue, as hairy as a caveman, and as muscular as a gorilla." He continued as he moved next to the blue giant. "You have to admit that you aren't exactly the textbook definition of a hero."

"What about the tusks?" Signman chuckled as he accepted his coffee.

"Well with all the vampire fetishists out there I can't really call you out on any special teeth you have." The stranger found himself a seat on the desk Signman had been sitting at. "On the other hand you also simply aren't cool or interesting enough to bring trouble to yourself. " He turned his concealed gaze onto the giant. "Not that any sane man would really want that anyway considering all the crap that an adventure puts you through."

"Awwww. Does little Mr. Shade have a problem with all the excitement your oh, so perfect blond-haired and blue-eyed self finds Oh, so easily." Signman retorted. "I mean really, having to have epic fights and go to exotic locations _clearly_ must suck _so_ much."

"Don't forget about the fact that most of the more famous fights ended with me dying and that those exotic locations also have even more people to make fun of you for your quirks." ,Shade nearly sighed, "As if I needed any more of that crap to deal with."

"Damn Gary Stu."

"Damn Chewbacca expy."

"You inhuman manwh-Wait! What was that?" Signman turned to point as something on the observation screen caught his interest.

"Hmmm." Shade lifted himself off the desk to look at what had attracted the attention of his companion.

On the screen was an image of a section of the multiverse's vast network of timelines and universes. However, most images of this type don't contain a white marble that had somehow split off from one timeline and begun speeding off to another. Even if they did, they certainly wouldn't have this kind of 'marble' in the image.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is."

"If I'm reading the distortions of reality around that thing properly then it unfortunately is what you think." Signman managed to get out as his fingers flashed across his keyboard.

"Fuck. Let the Court know what's going on Signman. I'm going after that thing." '_And I hope it's not too late.'_ Shade quickly reflected as he flash-stepped out.

/

'_Damn. I'm not going to be able to catch up like this' _Shade thought to himself as he flew through space after his target. '_If only I had the time to properly equip myself for multiversal travel before going after it.'_ He quickly formed and leapt off a platform of mana to correct his course._ 'At least I can make sure to keep track of the damn thing.'_

"Shade, the marble is beginning to fall into another timeline." A feminine voice called out from behind him.

"How in the heck did we miss two different unstable timelines so close to each other Storm?" Shade turned to look at the large, green sword on his back before quickly turning back to observe the marble's descent into one of the streams of time. "And why these two worlds of all the possibilities out their?"

"I don't know but we're not going to be able to enter this timeline with how unstable things are right now."

"Perfect." Shade muttered to himself in irritation. "Well. I guess we better record where it settles down before making our report."

Both man and sword moved in on the glowing river as the marble fell in. Within the world it had come upon the marble fell to the earth below as it began looking for a new host. Latching on the strongest possible connection the marbles trajectory altered as it continued to spiral down.

/

In the farming village of Ordon a dying woman gave birth to a young boy. As those that had gathered around her looked down on the boy they found themselves wondering about some of the more…. Unique traits he had even then.

"Look at those eyes." Mayor Bo gasped out in wonder. "They're so blue and yet they seem almost wolf-like."

"He looks so cute doesn't he Rusl?" Uli almost giggled to her husband.

"What? Oh! Y-yeah, sure." Rusl shook his head from his own musings. '_What's more interesting though is that he has the mark of the royal family on the back of this hand. Now, why would that be?' _He mused to himself.

"While it's nice to know that you like him, I would like to have a chance to hold my son before I go" the young mother seemed to whisper out just loudly enough to be heard.

"Oh! I-I-I-I'm sorry about that Minna." Bo stuttered out as a solemn mood retook the onlookers. "Here you go."

"Thanks my friend. I hope you can watch over him after I'm gone." The woman took the baby into her arms.

"I wish the plague hadn't found you and your husband Minna." Fado sighed in the face of the woman's nonchalance.

"It's too late for that now Fado." Minna said soothingly before turning to her child. "Now, what shall we call you my son? Hmmmmm…." She thought for a moment before gasping out weakly. "Ahhhhhhh, I think I'll name you Link." A chuckled escaped her lips as she bent down to plant a kiss on his forehead.

"You and your hero stories Minna." Fado laughed hollowly in a wasted attempt to lighten the mood.

"Well, I guess at this point all I can do is hope that he has the luck of the Hero after all." Minna coughed like a rattle as she fell unto her back. "It's not like I can offer him anything more now." The mother gently closed her eyes and relaxed as she passed from this life.

"Wait! Minna, you can't…" Fado found a hand on his shoulder holding him back from the bed.

"She's gone lad, there's nothing we can do now but take care of her son." Rusl began to sooth the young man.

Fate however, had a far different thing in mind for the newborn. A loud crash and a flash of light swept through the room as something slammed through the roof of the farmhouse. Under the haze of dust and debris the glowing marble merged with the body of the babe currently crying out from beneath a pile of broken boards.

The baby began screaming as best it could, tearing its throat raw as it felt the marble begin to merge with, and rip apart, his fledgling mind. Rusl quickly scooped the boy up and dashed out of the building.

"Get everyone out of here now!" Was all he called out as he ran with the boy in his arms. '_I'm not losing you to Link.'_

_/  
_

"Please explain to us once more. What exactly happened during your watch Signman?" One of the many shadowed individuals called out from above the blue giant. It's voice completely indistinct from that of any other being.

"During my watch a certain reality warping…. Manifestation shall we call it, detached itself from an undetected, unstable timeline and began to drift through the multiversal ether." He replied as if he were solid stone.

"So, beyond feeling the need to alert us to a glaring issue in our observational division, could you explain to us why you felt a need to prioritize your address to the Court before your duty to track the anomaly?" Another voice called down in what may have been accusation.

"Because I figured I should do it, considering that I was the fastest one in the general area when the event occurred." Shade supplied as he entered the nearly lightless chambers.

"I would assume that you did not retrieve the anomaly seeing as you haven't already shown it to us." A third voice joined in as Shade walked to the center of the room. "The obvious thing to ask for now is your report."

"Yes, it would be." Shade lifted his head up to address the members of the Court. "The 'anomaly' as you have dubbed it, ended up entering another previously undetected, unstable timeline within what is commonly referred to as the Zeldaverse, and attached itself to its greatest hero."

"We would prefer that our explanation be in terms we understand core-universal." The first voice spat out with enough venom to partially overwhelm the ancient wards placed on the room.

Shade turned to face the figure that had spoken, "Well then Zerandel, how is this for understandable." He then let his voice rise to be heard clearly by all. "The future hero of Hyrule, a newborn by the name of Link, has been bonded to the Reality Marble: Unlimited Bladeworks."

Silence reigned as all in session heard this statement. Even they did not yet know how much of an effect this would have on the future of Hyrule, let alone the multiverse.

Stop

_Well there's the first chapter of my story Of __Swords and Marbles__. Hopefully I can do this plot bunny the justice it deserves (or convince someone else to do it). Yes, I know that isn't how Reality Marbles work but I really had no other way to set things up the way I wanted to. Know that I will try to get better as this fic progresses and that I will try not to let Shade become annoying (or even worse: boring). So, let's see how far this goes, shall we?_


	2. A Hero's Childhood

_It's nice to get some attention for this story. Really, I would be happy so long as this story gets people to try this kind of crossover more, but it would also be nice to actually make a rather good story if at all possible. Oh yeah, sorry about the formatting, I'm hoping that I can do it better this chapter._

Start

Two figures danced in the night, one constantly shifting and jumping around while his target stood firm against the assault.

"You'll need to do better than that if you intend to surpass me one day lad." Rusl's face was illuminated as he blocked an attack from behind. Despite his confident words, the sweat that covered him from head to toe spoke volumes of his opponent's skill.

"What? Don't tell me you're getting tired already old man." His sparring partner had a smirk on his face as he pressed the attack.

Rusl blocked for a few more moments before suddenly sidestepping and slashing at the farm-boy only to have his target back-flip out of reach. "Shouldn't you be getting tired at this point Link? " He grimly chuckled as he met the boys charge. "I mean, it's only been _six_ hours since we started this and last I checked _I_ was the professional swordsman here."

'_I probably would have considered you inhuman by now if I hadn't been there at your birth.'_ Rusl mused to himself during a small breather. '_Not to mention that mark on the back of your hand… Oh well, I guess I'd better finish this now that we've been up all night.' _Suddenly Rusl seemed to trip on a tree root.

"I've gotcha," Link quickly moved in for the kill. He immediately found himself flat-footed, as Rusl easily turned aside his slash and took advantage of the opening he'd left in his defenses.

"Looks like you've lost again this time, lad." Rusl deadpanned as he forced Link back on his heels.

"Dammit," Link growled. "I'm not going to let you beat me again!"

Unfortunately for the soon-to-be hero, fate did not seem to care for his desperation. Overhead, left, right, and straight forward wove Rusl's blade as it sought to slash and stab its way through his defenses. Then, Rusl quickly shifted his weight and drove his blade downward to strike at Link's legs.

'_Dammit, how am I supposed to beat him now that's he has this much of an… Advantage over… Me…" _Was all Link could process before his mind suddenly went blank.

With a twitch of his leg, Link tossed up, caught, and blocked with a stick that had been lying on the ground.

Rusl did not miss the sudden shift in the boy's stance and demeanor as this happened. In fact, the change was impossible for anyone looking into Link's now empty eyes.

"Shit." Rusl cursed despite being the only one who could hear. "It's happened again, hasn't it?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Rusl found himself beset upon by his changed sparring partner. In a complete reversal of before, he found himself being the one who couldn't even fight back against Link's onslaught. No matter what he did, the boy blocked what few attempts that were made to attack as if he had foreseen each and every one.

The battle finally ended when Link blocked Rusl's sword with his own, disarmed the old man with the stick in his right, and put the blade's tip to his partner's throat.

"Tch, another loss to this other side of you Link." Rusl blew out in exasperation as the boy regained consciousness.

"What in the world just happened?" Link groaned while holding his head.

"I lost to your little alter ego again." Rusl shrugged as he removed the blade pointed at his throat. "Why don't we head over to the spirit spring and heal up a little before we return to the village." He smiled as he began to walk away from their training ground.

/

"I really wish I could beat you on my own for once." Link grumbled as they relaxed in the spring of Ordona.

Rusl opened up one of his closed eyes to look at his student. "Trust me Link, you're almost there already." He let a caring smile reach his lips as the boy turned to look him in the eyes. "Even at this age, you've got more physical ability and superior fighting style then even a man that's spent their whole life on their swordsmanship could ever ask for. All you need now are the instincts and experience to not make any mistakes like the one you made back there."

"I know that." Link shook his head to clear some of his thoughts. "It's just frustrating, knowing that there's this unknown side of me that can take you down without even a scratch!" The boy cried out as he tightened his fists.

"Well we did inform you about some of the more… _Unique,_ factors around your birth lad." Rusl turned his full attention to Link as the boy averted his gaze. "Secondly though," the grin returned to Rusl's face. "I would think that taking on an entire knight squad and bringing them all down without a single scratch, and at the ripe age of 10, would be a far more impressive deed for your alter ego then doing the same thing to me 3 years later." He rambled as Link recovered.

"Well, I do have a healthy respect for my teacher." The boy gave Rusl a slight smirk.

"Clearly you have far too much respect for me. Otherwise, you wouldn't even think that showing me that many openings would be worse than showing them to so many trained men." Rusl turned his head to take in the sites once more. "Seriously though, it almost seemed as if you were making them on purpose."

'_It wouldn't surprise me if you were right old man.'_ Link reflected in the near-silence of the spring. '_If my guess about my other side is right, then that would make it an integral part of its fighting style to leave those out there.'_

Rusl suddenly jumped up as he looked at the sky. "Crap!" The old man seemed to almost disappear as he turned to collect their things. "Its morning already, Uli's gonna have my hide if I don't get back real quick. Link, you might want to get yourself home to if you want to get any sleep before working on the ranch tomorrow." The old man lifted his things onto his back and dashed off, back to the village.

/

Instead of returning to his home like he should have, Link found himself pacing back and forth across the bridge to Faron Woods. His pace becoming more and more erratic as his thoughts overwhelmed him.

"Grrrahhhhh, just how many weird things does one guy have to deal with anyway!" Link screamed to the heavens. He then turned to lean against the side of the rope bridge he stood on.

"I mean… I was born with this mark on the back of my hand, had that strange light attack me before I can even remember, and sometimes I lose control of myself and fight like a man that I've only ever seen in my dreams." The boy listed off his many eccentricities.

"And unlike most people who have dreams about flying or ruling the kingdom, I have dreams either about two men wielding a form of magic I don't understand, several men dressed like the legendary hero, or a hill of swords that I can't even see clearly." Link's sigh practically reeked of depression as he looked down into the ravine below.

The farm-boy lifted his head to look upon the twilit sky. "Guess I'd better go home and get some sleep." He turned and started walking off when a sudden urge struck him out of nowhere.

"What am I doing?" Link muttered to himself as he took a position at the center of the field before him. '_Something incredibly stupid most likely,_' was his only response.

"Trace on."Closing his eyes, Link reached inside himself and searched for what some would call his magic circuits. After about a minute of searching he found and activated them with a sudden loosening and drawing of a metaphorical blade within its sheath.

'_Well at least that is a difference between us here. That man activates his circuits by preparing and firing off a…. Gun I think is what he called it. Within his head while I use a sword.'_ Link mused. _'Now, if I'm going to do this, then I'm going to need to figure out what I'm going to try Projecting first.'_

Determining Kanshou and Bakuya as the best choice given his current skill level, Link began to go through the steps of Projection.

"Judging the concept of creation." '_These swords were created by two sword-smiths as a marriage gift to one another.'_

"Hypothesizing the basic structure." '_The blades are Chinese Dao, twin swords much like eastern falchions.'_

"Duplicating the composition material." '_Steel and ebony for the blades, with bronze and cloth for the hilt.'_

"Imitating the skill of its making" '_The smiths were masters of the highest degree, both devoted all their experience and techniques to the creation of their masterpieces.'_

"Sympathizing with the experience of its growth…. Gah." Link doubled over as he felt his mind slam into something much like a solid-steel roadblock.

Swearing as he recovered from the shock, the boy began gathering himself back together.

"Dammit, why can't I do this? Every. Single. Time. I try to Project something, I end up getting stuck on that one step." Link sputtered out between gasps. "What is it that I'm doing so wrong that I can't sympathize with the weapon at all?"

The boy struck a tree in with a growl of frustration. After calming down a little, he began to resume walking home like he should have been earlier.

As he approached the tree-house that he lived in, something about the sun caught his attention. A memory from one of his dreams came, unbidden, into his mind.

_The boy sees a blond girl battling with what looks like a comet on the roof of a skyscraper. Suddenly, a hurricane bursts forth from her hands, unveiling a golden sword that begins to glow with light._

"_EX-CALIBUR" With that shout, the girl swings her sword and burns away the comet with what can only be described as a beam of solid light. The girl then collapses in a heap, the skyline before her split down the middle._

_What caught Link's attention was not the spectacle going on before him now, but instead, he found himself drawn to the holy sword the girl had wielded._

"Awwww-Screw it"Link said to himself as he once more prepared to perform Projection. "It's not like screwing up this time would be any different then screwing up any other time."

With his new target in mind, Link once more went through the steps of projection.

"Judging the concept of creation." '_A sword created by Gaia itself to represent the hopes and dreams of man.'_

"Hypothesizing basic structure." '_The sword is designed much like a European broadsword. However, it has also been designed to focus and release large amounts of prana as a beam of highly charged photons. It shoots light if you will.'_

"Duplicating the composition material." '_Iron alloys are used for both the hilt and blade, that contain a complex but potent mixture of elements.'_

"Imitating the skill of its making" '_The sword was not so much forged as spontaneously generated by the world when humanities numbers and power surpassed a certain threshold.'_

Link took a deep breath as he prepared himself for his second failure of the day.

"Sympathizing with the experience of its growth."

The boy tensed as he came to the point that would make-or-break this attempt. However, as his mind came to the expected stop, a certain, unilluminated part of his soul flooded in to fill the gap.

"What!" Link gasped as the process resumed even faster than before.

'_Excalibur went through as much abuse as any other well used sword. Countless times, it had been put through steel, and flesh, and bone. Countless hours had it spent covered in blood, water, drink, or even dirt as the situation may or may not have warranted. Yet, never did its edge dull or it's blade grow weak. More impacting was its connection to Arturia's dragon reactor, from which it gained both its incredible power, and its high prana cost.'_

"Reproducing the accumulated years." '_Excalibur spent the hundreds of years between its "creation" and the time when it was entrusted to Arturia, with the lady of the lake, within whose realm time could affect nothing. From there, it was wielded by her until her death a few years later. Afterwards, it spent untold years with the lady of the lake until the world finally ended. its imprisonment only being disavowed during the times Arturia spent as a heroic spirit.'_

"Excelling every manufacturing process" '_Rapidly recreate within your mind, the internal environment of the world and the conditions of its growth at several billion times speed.'_

Link cried out as he felt his entire body burn with prana. Then, as soon as it came, the heat left. The boy felt as if his entire back had gone numb to the point that he could barely stand up straight. Yet, all that disappeared from his mind as he looked down at his left hand.

To find a near-perfect replica of Excalibur innocently sitting within said hand.

"You mean I…. Finally managed to Project something." Link whispered just loudly enough to reach his own ears.

Then, the significance of this hit him and he felt excitement roar in his veins such that he felt like jumping for joy.

If only his body wasn't so wrecked.

Or the time so late.

When the second part hit him Link swore and dashed off to the ranch for his rounds, praying that he wouldn't be late. He spent the rest of the day struggling to complete his tasks as he dealt with the side effects of his first projection. But that didn't dent his joy for his first success in a long line of attempts.

/

In a different section of the multiverse, Shade found himself dealing with his own challenges.

"So Zelretch," he turned to face his 'guest'. "What is it that you find important enough to warrant distracting me during such a… complex situation?

"What. Is it not enough that I wish to speak with you? Must I have a hidden agenda every time I have a conversation with you?" The Wizard-Marshall grinned at the cloaked man.

"You certainly do when it turns out that we not only missed two unstable timelines within the same vicinity as each other. Especially when the reports tell me that 90% of the sentient beings in the Nasuverse one have been wiped out, to include your alternate."

Zelretch poured himself a cup of wine from a bottle on the glass table between them. "Well if we're going to start this seriously then I suppose I should start by asking how that one boy is coming along." The vampire lifted his cup to his mouth for a drink. " What was his name again?"

"It's Link, and from what I've seen so far he's been doing fairly well. Just an hour ago he finally managed to successfully perform Projection using Excalibur." Shade drank water from his own cup.

"Well while that's all nice and fun, I would like to know if your sword will be joining us in this conversation." Zelretch leaned back in his chair as if he were living without a single care in the world.

"No, Storm will not be joining us. If you don't mind could we get on with this Master of the Second Magic?" The cloaked man gritted out through clenched teeth.

"As you wish." Zelretch leaned forward as he continued his line of questioning. "From what I've heard of the boy's issues with his Reality Marble, I would think that it should be more surprising that he managed to Project anything at all then the fact that he Projected that sword in particular, although I might be wrong."

"You're not wrong at all Zelretch." Shade pulled a scanner out of his cloak. "The problem is that Emiya Shirou created Unlimited Bladeworks under a unique set of circumstances."

He then began to list them off as he counted on his fingers. "Shirou was put through an event so traumatizing that he lost all memory of his life before the event and left him distorted, such that he could no longer find any value in his own life when compared to that of another person. From there, he was saved from said event when Kiritsugu implanted Avalon within him, a defensive and healing artifact of the highest degree that remained bonded to him until at least the Holy Grail War 10 years later." Shade took another drink of water before continuing.

"This artifact also changed both his element and origin to sword from the ones he had before. The only other things that could possibly have affected it were his introduction the Kiritsugu's ideal of saving everyone, and maybe Archer's use of it against him."

"Add in the fact that this boy obtained his artificially and wellll…"Zelretch's demeanor becomes rather introspective as he follows the chain of thought.

"Things end up being, that Link is so disconnected from his 'birth gift' that even after he popped his Projection cherry tonight, he's still never going to be able to do anything more than standard projection and reinforcement until he manifests his Reality Marble." Shade shook his head warily. "In fact, unless something happens, chances are that he's not even going to be able to manifest it."

The sorcerer's expression turned even grimmer. "My last question then is why the boy found it easier to reproduce one of the most powerful Noble Phantasms in existence then the two swords that the Counter Guardian specializes with?"

Shade methodically filled his cup before answering. "Actually, that is the part that surprises me the least. Throughout a vast majority of Link's lives, he has wielded the Master Sword, a blade much like Excalibur beyond a few cosmetic and historical differences. So, naturally, he would find it easier to relate to that kind of blade then others."

The cloaked man slides forward in his seat. "Now once more I ask, can you tell me why it is that you brought me here?"

Zelretch closed his eyes, drained his cup, and waited several moments before delivering the main intent of the conversation. "I received a message from that timelines alternate about 3 hours ago. In it he explained that all of the incidents we have been discussing were caused by a unique Type by the name of Tritous."

A shattering sound was heard as the cup in Shade's hand slipped out of his fingers. "You mean to tell me that a Type…A literal manifestation of a world… Has not only wreaked havoc on one of your universes timeline but…" He sputtered out.

"He also invaded that boy's world, and managed to do a great deal of damage to the integrity of his world before the local deities sealed him away temporarily." The Master of the Second Magic finished for him.

"So all those questions about the boy…"

"Were an attempt on my part to decide if he needed any extra help. Especially considering the fact that your 'friends' in the Aldarcal won't be able to intervene directly with the current instability of the timeline."

Shade jumped out of his seat in irritation. "And it should be pretty damn obvious that he can't handle it the way he is Zelretch! Dammit, I guess our only option now is to terminate the timeline."

"Can't you enter the timeline safely Shade thanks to your existence as a core-universal?" The sorcerer asked in a bored tone.

"Of course I can! That's not the problem!" Shade shouted as his frustration raged. "The problem is that I can't leave Link's side if I go there, and thanks to the way that things reality marble is going to screw with things I won't be able to join him for the final battle anyway."

"Then why don't you train him" came the inquisitive reply.

"Because even if I did train him, he's certainly not going to be able to solo a Type that managed to deal that kind of damage in a Nasuverse timeline." The cloaked man found himself calming down.

"Then I guess it's a good thing that pulling miracles out of nowhere is your specialty… Dragon of the Last Breath." Zelretch's last address echoed in the room as he left in a flash of prismatic light.

Stop

_Sorry about all the history fudging I did with the projections. Nasu is so vague about them that it's really hard to figure out the details that projection would actually require. Also, please not that I will likely be making much better fight scenes then that as I get to the more exciting parts of this fic._

_On a more general note. Shade has two abilities, specializes at ritual magic, and has three different forms of said second ability. I say this so that no one will complain when I unveil them. Oh yeah, please review from now on. I want to make this story as good (Read: plot-bunny inducing) as possible, and considering my own lack of skill in the writing department. Well, I'll be needing a lot of help to say the least._


	3. Ripples Before the Storm

_Sorry I'm late with the update people. I had a couple things that came up this month that kinda got in the way of the story. Oh yes, this should be the last major timeskip I have to do for this fic. From here on I will be following something of an augmented version of the game at least in a general outline for the journey. Don't get me wrong, I'm not letting either side of the story go to waste, it's just that it seems like a good idea to follow the dungeon progression of Twilight Princess and just create my story around that structure._

_With that out of the way, here's your chapter:_

Start

Four years later, Link once more found himself sitting in the spirit spring with Rusl. The scene however, could not be any more different between two friends.

"Dammit lad, do you have to hit so hard?" Rusl grumbled, carefully sliding his bruised and battered body into the water.

"Did you?" Link chuckled as he slid into the water without as much as a drop of sweat marring his body.

Rusl gave the boy a long glance before sighing. "You got me there lad, but it's far more humiliating for a man who's lived and trained as long as I have to be taken down so easily by a teenager."

A horse walked up to watch them from a short distance away. Her snort forced a grin to Rusl's lips. "Especially when that teenager also happens to be one of my farm hands. So how have you been treating her recently?" He gave a quick glance to the horse to ensure the boy knew who he was asking about.

"Epona." Link also turned to look at his horse. "I've done everything in my power to keep her healthy… It's not like Ilia would react sanely to me so much as nicking her on something." Link grumbled with annoyance towards his childhood friend.

"It's not like she punishes you just for the sake of punishing you. It's just that she cares about her just as much as you do without being as close. Although…." Both swordsmen sighed as they thought about the girl's antics.

After they finished reminiscing on the past, Rusl looked up at the Twilit sky, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Link…Have you ever just sat back and observed the world at these times? These hours when the world is bathed in twisted and beautiful light as the walls between this world and others are weakened." Rusl questioned as he admired the view. "It's at times like these when it is said that spirits walk the earth once more."

Link took a seat next to his friend as he also turned his gaze unto the heavens. "Not really, I just have so many things I'm trying to do or learn right now that I've never really thought about it." The boy looked thoughtful before getting a wide grin on his face. "Although, it looks like your minds starting to go early old man, I'd think that a soldier like yourself would remember that Redead and Stalfalos only show up at night."

"That's not what I meant and you know it lad. And where do you get off calling me old?" Rusl shook his head at the boy's apparent antics.

'_Yeah, I know what you mean old man."_ Link thought quietly to himself as he extended his admittedly unrefined magical senses around him. "_The world seems to almost buzz with magic at this time and it even seems to affect my circuits…Although, that might just be that my optimum time for magecraft happens to be right now. I wouldn't really be the one to know on that one."_

"On that note lad, I have something of great and rather personal importance to ask of you." Rusl turned to look at the boy, driving him from his musings.

"What is it you need me to do for you Rusl?" The magus asked with concern and readiness coming equally to his eyes and voice.

"I know that you've been wondering what I've been doing at the forge for a while now lad." The elder of the two began. "What I've been working on is a sword to gift to the royal family."

Link was surprised but managed to rein it in so that Rusl could continue.

"Yes, I know that our village isn't really all that…Connected with the peoples of Castle Town, but I still feel like giving respect to our rulers every now and then. Guess it comes with being a former soldier."

Link saw the familiar gleam of pride enter his teacher's eyes and couldn't help but smile. "Don't worry about it Rusl. I'll make sure that it gets into their hands as soon as it possibly can."

Rusl regarded his student, well he supposed former students at this point, with a warm smile and a chuckle before replying in earnest. "Nice to know lad, but I don't want you to go and forget about yourself mind you. A kid like you doesn't get out of the village all that often you know. You really should take the time to enjoy yourself while you're out there."

"When should I set out then?"

"I would sayyyy…About two days from now lad." Rusl answered as he got to his foot. "I'll be heading to bed now. Wouldn't do to worry Uli, especially after we had that conversation about Ilia's temper."

"See you tomorrow old man." Link called out as his teacher left the spring. After he was sure that his activities wouldn't be noticed, the magus once more strode into the copse he had practiced in since that night a few years ago.

"Trace on" with not but a whisper, he activated his magic circuits in preparation for his training. Seeing that it had been a couple weeks since he last attempted the projection, he decided to once more use the twin Dao for his practice today. In an instant the blades appeared in his hands, ready to cut down anything their wielder so chose.

Unfortunately, Link found himself having to almost constantly replace the two as they shattered. The copies were of such low quality that they got maybe three blows in before shattering either in his hands or in flight.

After about an hour passed as the teenager tried to improve his projections, Link called it a day and began walking home. His mind churned with thought as he returned to bed.

'_Is this really the best I can ever hope to do? Create a bunch of swords so flimsy Rusl could make better ones in just a day…While drunk at that? If so, then why was I given this power in the first place? And if not…'_

'_If not…Then what must I do to improve?'_

/

Link once more awoke from his chaotic dreams. A few times the colors would resolve themselves into images and sounds but for the most part it was still just a blurry slush of colors and sounds. Stretching, the farm boy prepared for work.

The day wasn't all that special for the teenager…Or at least it wasn't all that special yet. Most of the day he spent finishing up his work on the farm and taking care of last minute errands for the townspeople. Herding sheep, fishing, knocking down beehives (which might have ended badly if he hadn't had the foresight to use the hawk grass to get the birds help…Those giant bees stung like a bitch.) he found himself taking care of all sorts of tasks that day.

As he went home though, he found himself satisfied. The town was happy, he had some fun fishing, and he came home with a magic jar full of milk and a slingshot full of Deku nuts. Life seemed to be working out for the yet-to-be hero.

…And then he came home to the kids at his door or ladder as was more appropriate to the tree house.

Which in and of itself wouldn't have been too bad. Sure they asked him to show off his swordsmanship a bit, but they knew their parents wouldn't approve of it if they tried anything he showed them, it wasn't like anyone else could perform the spin attack properly in the first place (What could he say, he was proud of his first private technique even if he knew that other people had known it just as instinctually as he did.). Showing off his slingshot wasn't all that demanding either despite the expense.

No, the thing that ruined his day wasn't simply kids.

It was the damn monkey that incited the idiots to chase it to the boundaries of town. And in Talo's case…Beyond.

This left him tearing through Faron woods astride Epona as he tried to hunt down the lost child. After dealing with a weird hermit by the name of Coro, he found himself continuing on foot with naught but a lantern and the few torches he found to light his way.

Finally after slaying a not-so-insignificant number of monsters he released the captured idiot and monkey from their imprisonment using his wooden sparring sword.

And then…Something changed from the ordinary passage of this event.

"Seriously Talo, didn't you think that running into the woods was probably a bad idea." Link sighed as the former prisoners dusted themselves off.

"Sorry Link, it's just that I thought that she was responsible for all those weird things going on in the village and…" Talo whimpered.

"And what?"

"And I thought that it was too important to just let her get away." The child turned to look at his companion who just chirped out what could be assumed to be thanks to their savior.

"And look where that got you." The teenager gestured at the scene surrounding them. "You get captured, will likely be in deep trouble when we get back, and forced me to fight my way through the woods praying that I find you in time. All just to find out that all of that business wasn't her fault at all."

Talo tried to reply for a moment before suddenly the third member of the group began screeching in fear. All eyes focused on an area of trees that were shaking under some unknown force. Link positioned himself quietly in front of the others as a quiet moment came about.

And then the monster hit.

It looked like a kind of mix between a hedgehog and an armadillo. The beast's entire body was covered in spikes of wicked size. The tail was obviously designed for hurling the spikes at its foes in large numbers very rapidly. The worst though was not any of these which would have made for a rather tricky fight in and of themselves.

No, the most frightening part about this beast, and the thing that made Link throw open his circuits in an instant was not that the beast had excellent weapons and defenses. It was instead a simple yet impossible fact.

This monsters entire body was made of crystal the color of obsidian. Its quills, its claws, its teeth' its skin, even its eyes were made of living, breathing crystal.

"Run." Link roared to the two even as the beast made one of its own. The swordsman hurled his blade at his foe even as he dashed in to interpose himself between the monster and the more vulnerable members of his group.

The distraction lasted only a moment as the wooden blade shattered against his foes skin. Link was given just enough time to finish his maneuver, reinforce himself, and call the white and black blades from yesterday to his hands before the first wave of quills hit.

Amazingly, the twin Dao held against the crystal storm. Weaving through the air in an indescribable dance, the blades deflected quill after quill from their lethal courses. Only finally shattering as their wielder blocked the last projectile.

'_I'm going to need something much more powerful and durable for this one.'_ The swordsman projected Excalibur into his left hand in response to the thought. '_All I need to do is get in close and cut the thing down before it manages to hit me.'_

Link dodged projectile after projectile, rolling, jumping, and occasionally even sliding through wave after wave. Inching ever closer to his foe. Finally, he closed in and struck.

With his first slash he cut off its left foreleg.

With his second slash he left a huge gash in its left flank.

And with a final spin attack he severed the beast's tail. Not even the crystalline strength it's body held protecting it from the holy blade.

With a final pained roar the beast tried to bite into its foe from behind…Only to have the swordsman ram his blade down its throat without even turning to face it.

The two remained their transfixed in place like two statues until Link released his projection to let the corpse crumple to the ground.

After taking a moment to catch his breath Link began the trek home to see if Talo had gotten back and the alarm gone off.

As well as to safely contemplate the full meanings and repercussions of this encounter.

Stop

_As I said above, sorry I'm late for no good reason but unfortunately that's what happens when you have class to deal with. It probably also has to deal with the fact that I really want to start doing the later parts of this fic more then I want to negotiate the canon that I have stuck myself in. I have a lot of ideas for increasing the awesome in this fic even if I'm probably not going to be using some to the full potential that you guys see. (This is meant to make plot bunnies to remember.)_

_Also thanks mister or miss anonymous for being my second reviewer. I hope I can really give this story the writing it deserves but sadly I'm not all that good at writing. For now I'm hoping to improve my ability to write fight scenes since those are going to be the most enjoyable parts of the fic to write. On the other hand, my only idea for getting those reviews is to just keep writing and hope for the best. For now though, you guys' praise and favorites will just have to suffice as my water marking on this fic._


	4. The Dragon and the Swordsman

_Damn. I spent several hours wondering how I was going to show off Shade's ability without scaring everyone off and unfortunately all I could come up with was just reminding people that he isn't going to be the main focus of the story. Instead, he will be acting as something like a teacher/guide for Link as the situation warrants. Fortunately, he will be showing it off in a way that quickly benefits the plot in this chapter so that should hopefully soak up some of the rage and despair it creates._

_Finally, I apologize for this and any future ideas that I won't be using to their full potential but I just don't have them factored into the future of my story and I have enough balls to juggle their as it is._

Start

That night saw a Link far too restless to sleep. Over and over in his mind he recounted his encounter with the strange crystalline monster and found himself with far more questions than answers.

'_What was that thing? It wasn't like any monsters or animals that I've ever seen or so much as heard about. Even if it was something natural, a monster of that level of power should be somewhere in the Snowpeak mountain area or the Gerudo Mesa, not down here in Faron Woods.'_ The swordsman tossed and turned in his bed as the thoughts swirled around in his head. Despite his best efforts, Link was left with just his hopes that things would sort themselves out just as they had done countless times before.

Regretfully, life had far more audacious plans for the Magus.

/

Despite the obstacles, Link had found himself an hour of sleep before he needed to begin his preparations for the trip. After securing everything he would need on Epona he began to walk her out to the border of the village when a wrathful voice screamed out to him.

"What the hell are you doing Link; can't you see Epona's hurt?" The swordsman was off his horse in a moment as the girls voice rang in his ears in a way that only hers could (As far as he knew of course.)

"What do you mean Ilia; I didn't think she was injured from my inspection." The teenager's friend took a position that clearly showed the irritation she felt even as he grumbled out a response.

"What I mean, idiot, is that bruise on her back leg that your little 'inspection' clearly missed. What, were you jumping her over fences again, or just being foolish. Honestly, you know that she hasn't quiet learned how to take more than one or two at a time yet." Link shook his head in an attempt to clear some of the ringing even as she began her lecture.

"Well it's not like I've really had the time to do anything about it either before or after she got hurt." He began after she had calmed down a bit.

"What reason could you possibly have that would make it all right to get her hurt like this." Ilia bit out.

"So I should have just trotted after Talo when he ran off into the woods? Further, I shouldn't have worried at all about this new and abnormally powerful monster that attacked just as I caught up with them?" Link asked with clear rhetoric in his voice.

That made the girl step back reflexively as if stung by something. "I….I had no idea that all of that happened. I just…" Ilia's head was hung with uncontainable shame.

"Look, I'll take her to the spirit spring before I go. That should fix her up pretty fast if I remember correctly. However, with all these changes going on in the world right now, I think it would be best if you and the others remained in the village until Rusl thinks its safe enough." Link took one last look as his childhood friend shook her head in confirmation. "Well, see you when I get back Ilia."

Thus the swordsman left his village, not to return for a long time.

/

Link sat down on the outer edge of the spring as the healing properties of its waters quickly mended the horse's legs. At this time he once more found himself reflecting on the yesterday's fight. In fact, he was so embroiled in his introspective that he had tuned out the world around him.

In another timeline, he would pay for a similar mistake, but not this one.

Suddenly, the teenager was ripped from his thoughts by a shaking in the ground. Quickly it grew, and with it came the sound of hooves. Link didn't even have time to get to his feet before the creators of the noise appeared on the scene.

In an instant, a pair of Bulblin raiders came crashing into the spring astride their Bullbo. With them came an entire raiding party led by the very king of their people.

As chance would have it, Link was hidden behind a good deal of foliage at the time and was well hidden from the beasts before him. However, with Epona left out in the open and ripe for the taking in the enclosure, the swordsman had only seconds to come up with a plan of action.

'_Dammit, of all the things that could have happened today, it just had to be a royal Bulblin raiding party didn't it. Worse, I don't even have anything to hit them with aside from my projections. I really wish I hadn't left it all with the packs.'_ His mind raced as the Bulblins closed in on his horse.

'_How am I supposed to beat them with just those though? I know Kanshou and Bakuya held up fairly well when I was fighting that one monster, but I can't hope for such a miracle this time and I just can't do that much with a bunch of swords that shatter after four impacts at the most. Excalibur won't be much help either with how superior their force is. I refuse to abandon Epona no matter how impossible it may be. Their just has to be a…"_

Link's thoughts cut off as another force took control of his body, one that he was innately familiar with.

/

King Bulblin was not exactly enthusiastic about his task today. He and his men were warriors, not run-of-the-mill highwaymen. Somewhat barbaric warriors perhaps, but they did have something of a code of honor in their ways. Unfortunately, ever since Ganondorf's minions had proven themselves superior to most any force in the land, the Bulblins had found themselves being forced to perform more and more distasteful tasks.

Of all the tasks they had been given though, driving the villagers from the Ordona province's sacred spring was definitely the most degrading. The only enemy they had found to fight was this one horse that, while of excellent breeding, wasn't exactly what one might call a warhorse. However, orders were orders, and King Bulblin would obey his no matter how undignified they were.

Figuring he might as well make the most of the situation, he gave his men the go ahead to take the horse as their spoils, meager thought they were. Quickly they set to work boxing the horse in even as it struggled to escape. Everything seemed to be going to whatever plans his masters had laid.

And then it all went to hell.

A white blur burst out from the nearby foliage, moving so fast that he couldn't make out its shape. What he could make out was two discs, no swords, suddenly being launched from the shape that arced in to cut down the men that had been attempting to bring the horse in.

In less than a second, the blur reached its first pair of Bullbo riders. With a spinning kick it drove them from their seats. "Hrunting" it, no he, called in a rough, monotone voice even as he spun in the air. In his hand, a black blade suddenly appeared only to be immediately hurled at his other pair of riders.

By this time the Bulblins had recovered from their shock well enough that the riders attempted to dodge the blade that had been thrown at them. On a normal blade this might have sufficed, but against the blade of Beowulf, their maneuvering was pointless. In an instant the blade had arced its trajectory to continue after its targets, both of whom it speared down as if it had originally been thrown in that direction.

The King quickly shifted his focus to the rest of his men, hoping in the back of his mind that they had held together well enough for him to get them out of this. What he saw instead shocked him to his very core.

Half of the remaining raiders had already been cut down by this…Swordsman; the King hesitantly identified their foe. The other have rapidly began joining them. The swordsman blurring once more as his white and black blades severed limbs, ripped through throats, and left gaping holes in their chests. '_My men are just getting massacred out there.'_

Finally, at the end of the slaughter, King Bulblin got his first good look at the swordsman before him. He wore a mere patchwork farmer's garment, his hair was blond, his blades were of a unique make, and his stance seemed both suicide and dominating at the same time. What stood out in his mind though was not any of those details. Instead, he focus was drawn to the swordsman's steel-gray eyes; they had the appearance of a wolf's yet at the same time were completely lifeless. All the king could see in them was a mechanical gaze that was constantly appraising how best to deal with the foes around him.

Never one to let fear get the best of him, the King grabbed and lifted his horn to his lips, preparing to call for reinforcements. '_Wait, why is he shifting his swords around like that?'_

The thought had barely come to the King's mind before the first pair of blades returned. Noticing them far too late, the King only managed to shift himself just enough in his seat to save his life. Instead, the blades came together to shatter his horn and rip his right arm open to the point of uselessness.

The swordsman didn't even flinch in response as King Bulblin fled the scene. His bosses would not be happy about this he reflected. However, even in defeat, the King wore a smile on his face.

'_I believe that we will meet again in the future, gray-eyed swordsman. Then we can see who wins in a real fight.'_

/

Several minutes passed with Link standing still in the center of the spring before he regained control over his body. Depression filled his eyes as he gazed over the carnage his other side had left in its wake.

'_I really wish that I could fight like that. Even if I never actually reach that level of skill, I at least want to be able to project weapons that don't break after a little bit of wear.'_ Link took a few moments to reminisce over his shortcomings before saddling up on Epona and riding off on his trip.

He was just entering the gorge leading to the Woods when a he heard someone call out to him from across the bridge.

"Do you mean to tell me that after all this evidence that there are greater problems in your world then you know, you are still going to just ride off into the world without even being able to use your greatest weapon properly?" The swordsman turned to see a cloaked figure carrying a green sword about the size of his body on his back.

"I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about stranger. I need to get this sword to the royal family in all haste so I don't really have time to talk right now." The teenager began to ride off again thinking the conversation over.

"Oh sorry, I forgot that you haven't really mentioned your abilities to anyone else yet. Hmmmm…How to get you to pay attention….Let's see here….Oh yes, does the phrase 'I am the bone of my sword' mean anything to you?" The figure asked Link without altering his voice in the slightest.

Stunned, all the swordsman could do was turn around and ride up the cloaked figure.

"Looks like that rang a bell."

"Who are you and why do you know that phrase?" Link questioned the man in earnest.

"My name is Shade, and as to your second question, well, it would be best if we sat down first. This conversation is going to take awhile." With a gesture, the man led the teenager off into the glade near Ordon.

/

A few minutes later, Link found himself seated with Shade around a fire inside a small cavern. Countless questions had boiled over into his mind on the ride over and he barely managed to control himself as the cloaked man got them both large bottles of milk.

"As I said before, this is going to take awhile. I figured we should both drink something that is going to help us maintain our focus as this goes on. I'm sure you have a lot of questions just as I have a lot to talk about so I think I'll let you go first." Shade began the conversation grimly.

"Alright, why did you wish to speak with me?"

"Straight to the point I see. Well, to put it simply, I am here to prevent the destruction of your entire world by an entity from an entirely different universe." Link almost choked on his milk as he heard that.

"What do you mean, 'prevent my world from being destroyed by something from a different universe? That makes absolutely no sense at all!" He nearly shouted in irritation.

"How doesn't it make sense? I would assume that having people try to destroy your world would be normal considering the fact that there were several heroes in your history stated to have fought against such things. I would also assume that the man with a powerful ability capable of literally rewriting reality for a time, which obviously came from a completely different universe if you've been going through the dream cycle like you should have, would have already figured out that at least one other universe exists. The fact that I'm here to help should be obvious from the fact that I contacted you at all instead of simply killing you or watching the fireworks go off from a distance, although I guess there are a few extremely powerful assholes who like the whole 'double agent' thing so I guess I can understand your confusion there."

"Wellll…" Link deflated as his question was ruthlessly picked apart. It didn't help that the man had done it with honest curiosity throughout the whole process, or even that he felt like he had just smashed his head into a stone wall after being given that much information that fast.

"Next question please." Shade said upon noticing that Link had abandoned his disbelief.

"O.K. How do you know about my powers?" The teenager hoped that this question would have a much saner answer then the last.

"I know about your powers because I have been observing you and knew the original owner of your reality marble rather well and….What are you doing?" The cloaked man suddenly shifted focus as he noticed the shocked look on the teenagers face.

"Sorry, I was a bit worried when you said you were observing me so, I decided to check you out with my circuits. That's when I noticed that your element is….Weird." Link shook his head to refocus himself and downed a whole swig of milk.

"Oh, I forgot that your origin is Balance. Being able to notice distortions in the world is an innate ability of yours." Shade drank some of his own milk as the magus tried to figure out how to phrase his discoveries.

"The thing is, you don't actually seem to have a set element." The magus began carefully. "Instead it seems to be constantly shifting around. The only thing I get consistently is a feeling of…Timelessness you could say."

"The reason for that is rather unique my friend, but I believe that it will come up with your next question so I think I will abstain from telling you for now." Shade put some more wood on the fire as Link decided what to ask next.

"Why are you asking me to help you with this? How could I possibly be of aid to someone like you?"

"Well, as to why I'm asking for your help, it's because I actually can't do it myself. Your world is in such a fragile state right known that if I used the power required to stop the threat myself, I would simply end up destroying the world in its place." The cloaked man sat back as Link voiced a question.

"How am I supposed to defeat something using less power than you would? Last I checked, you were the multiversal security guy with a ton of experience not me."

Shade chuckled before continuing. "You aren't going to be using less power than me; you're going to be using more. Thanks to the Triforce Piece inside you, nothing you do will damage this world's integrity unless you want it to. Before you ask, you have the Triforce of courage inside of you, as evidenced by the symbol on your left hand." Shade gave Link a few moments to look himself over before continuing.

"The reason I think that you can do it is not only because of the things we have already pointed out, but also because you are the current reincarnation of the legendary hero of your land."

Memories from his dreams flashed into his consciousness as the teenager digested the information. "What makes you think that I am this reincarnation of the hero you are looking for?" He looked straight into the darkness of the man's hooded face, as if trying to pierce the darkness.

Shade simply stood up and put his empty milk bottle on the ground. "I told you that the reason for my shifting element would come up." Suddenly the cloaked man…Shifted would be the most accurate term for it…into a completely different form.

Upon looking at it, Link found it hard not to drop his jaw. Before him now stood a mirror image of himself except that in place of his farm clothes, the man before him wore the Hero's Tunic, and on his back, the man carried one of the most beautiful and powerful blades he had ever seen.

"I call this ability of mine **Absolution**. It allows me to take the form of any of the great entities that I knew of while I lived in my own world. Guess what that makes you." Shade chuckled in a perfect rendition of Link's own voice before shifting back to his own form.

The teenager shook his head as he reorganized his thoughts. After several minutes passed he decided on his next question. "Even if I am this…Reincarnation of the Hero that you think I am. How am I going to gain this power you are asking for fast enough to help you? I can't even use projection all that well!"

The cloaked man considered this for a moment before answering in turn. "That depends on your current situation. For now though, you should let me know about anything special in regards to your reality marble that has happened up to now. I already know about the dreams and abilities it has given you, but I need to know if it has had any other affects or if someone or something inconceivably tampered with it somehow."

Link was taken aback by this, and could only find one thing of note to inform his host of. "I don't know if this is just some hidden potential of mine or not now…But if you are looking for weird affects then the best thing I can think of would be that I occasionally…am possessed for lack of a better term, by this other person that fights a lot like Archer. He's even better at magecraft then I am."

Shade began to pace back and forth as he pondered this. The swordsman found himself unable to contain his anticipation for the man's reaction to his statement.

"Hmmmm…" Suddenly the boy's host snaps his fingers and turns back towards him. "Alright, I have good news and bad news for you, which do you want to hear first?" He looked straight into the boy's eyes as he gave his question.

"I guess I'll go with the bad news considering how weird this conversation has been." Link muttered in exhaustion, the conversation having sapped him of most of his energy.

"Fortunately, the only bad news is that your soul is still rejecting your reality marble, as evidenced by the fact that it hasn't united with you yet." Shade paused to let the magus finish his drink before continuing. "The good news though, is that since your body has begun to treat it as a split personality of yours, it is clear that your physical existence has already accepted the ability as a part of you."

Link set his bottle down carefully even as his irritation mounted again. "How is that supposed to help me, I still can't use projection properly unless I'm controlled by my reality marble!" He turned his head down in frustration.

"It helps because it means that we can actually give you a significant boost to both your current abilities and potential." Shade ignored the incredulous look he was given and continued speaking. "My plan is to use your body's acceptance of Unlimited Bladeworks to our advantage."

A flash of pain passed over the Magus's features but it quickly passed. Shade gave him a quick look-over before outlining the advantages and disadvantages of his idea.

"If this works, not only will your projections see a fair boost in speed and accuracy, but you will also become capable of expanding your arsenal and skills to a level far beyond what you could ever achieve otherwise. However, you will still have to reach Archer's levels of experience and ability on your own for the most part. The choice, though, is yours: keep the split personalities highly refined capabilities, or trade them in for a chance at even greater power."

Link didn't even have to consider the choice. He wanted to make this power his own, not simply relying on it to bail him out of everything. "Let's do it."

The magus could have sworn that the cloaked man was smiling smugly, even if he couldn't see it under that hood. "Well then, before we do this, we need to plan for when you wake up. What we're doing is going to basically be like taking a sledge hammer to your soul and then welding it back together into the form we want, so you're going to be out for awhile. I can't stay here because I need to do some research and make preparations for the coming battles."

"Then what is it you need me to do?" Link's voice seemed to fill the air with his determination.

Shade began putting everything away inside his cloak as he filled out the details of his current plan. "When you wake up, you'll find that I've moved your possessions and some other choice items to the Ordona spring. When you return here you will need to collect them so that you won't be stuck without them later. For now though, I will need you to make your way through a barrier that will be set up around Faron woods. After that you should simply follow an imp by the name Midna, whom you will find rather quickly upon entering the woods. I'll contact you the next time we need to speak."

"So how are we going to go about doing this?" The teenager couldn't keep the curiosity out of his voice.

"You'll see." Shade walked to the center of the cavern and turned to face Link.

"Just remember that this is going to hurt a lot." The man said before shifting into the form of the red Archer.

The magus tried to express his bewilderment at the display but before he could, Shade closed his eyes and began the aria.

"I am the bone of my sword" Link's face once more contorted in pain at the words.

"Steel is my body, and fire is my blood" '_No it's not, no one is like that!'_ His mind began to rage against the words as the continued to flow.

"I have created over a thousand blades," '_You have created nothing!'_

"Unknown to death," '_All you hold are mere illusions!"_

"Nor known to life." Link fell to his knees as his mind continued to throb and rage more and more with each word.

"Have withstood pain to create many weapons." _'STOP. STOP. STOP.'_

"Yet those hands will never hold anything." '_NONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOO'_

"So, as I pray –"'_ALL YOU SPEAK IS LIES!_'

"Unlimited Bladeworks!" Link's scream sounded unearthly and primal as the world reformed around him. By the time the hill of swords had appeared, he had already lost consciousness as his mind and soul struggled to hold themselves together through the merge.

Shade took a few moments to admire the scenery before releasing the reality marble and shifting back into his own form once more. Taking a moment to look at the hero-to-be he smiled once more. Then he flash stepped away, alone with his thoughts.

'_Let's see what you can do now kid. I hope you don't disappoint me, for everyone's sake.'_

Stop

_Holy crap, I did not expect this chapter to be that long when I started it. I certainly broke the 10,000 word mark with gusto. On another note theirs Shade's second, and probably most hax ability, __**Absolution**__. I know most of you probably abandoned ship upon seeing it but in all honesty I choose it to add even more flavor to the training fights that will be coming up soon, hopefully. Just think of all the awesome situations I can put Link in by using Shade as a walking mega crossover . If you are still worried just let me know in a review and I will do my best to alleviate such worries and adjust my story as necessary. (See, your reviews help me help you.)_

_For now, give me your thoughts and don't forget that I want to do this story as much justice as possible. Sure, chances are I'll never reach the level of the really awesome fanfic writers and my purpose is still mainly getting better writers to come up with their own fics for me to read, but that doesn't mean that I won't do everything I can to make this the best story I possibly can. (Maybe I can get on Tvtropes one day ;D)._


	5. Wolf's first howl and Investigations

_I think this might shape up into a fairly good size chapter like the last one. It's also nice to see that no one's called fire before all the cards are on the table. All told, this chapter should be the last risky one from my point of view. After this I will have all of the background ability setup done for all of the OCs and can focus on developing Link's arsenal from there (Aside from a little information about origins, a mentioning of the aforementioned permutations, etc. but those shouldn't come up for awhile). Trust me; our hero has a long way to go before he can even hope to stand against Tritous._

_Oh, hopefully I won't write the established characters incorrectly, but I will apologize beforehand if that happens._

Start

_Link found himself in an empty place, surrounded by countless weapons. Things seemed to be slowly clearing up but he could still barely make anything out clearly beyond a few swords nearby._

"_I guess it won't be so easy to gain full control over this ability, won't it?" He sighed even in his formless state. "At least I'm getting somewhere now. I was almost starting to wonder if I would ever get better at this."_

_The swordsman took one last look over his slowly increasing armory before everything faded to white._

/

Link awoke with a groan. After taking a few moments to regain his bearings, he found himself in a familiar copse of trees. To his dismay, although not to his surprise, he found that most of his belongings had disappeared and that he had slept most of the day away.

"Damn, Shade must have really done a number on me if I was out this long." He stretched out for a bit before getting to his feet. "I guess I should get to work on that task the guy gave me." Sighing, Link began to walk towards the bridge into Faron Woods.

A sudden impulse struck him as he walked; he felt an unbearable urge to test his newly enhanced abilities. With a quick aria and a flick of his hands, he sent Kanshou and Bakuya spinning off behind him.

A wide smile came to his face when he reached the bridge to find them still clashing throughout the forest. "Progress is a wonderful thing, isn't it?" he whispered quietly to himself.

Several minutes passed after he found the curtain of twilight blocking his path. Most of which were spent trying several different methods to force his way through. '_Am I here early, or am I to late?'_

Then, the thought was quickly lost as an unexpected hand burst out from behind the curtain. Link didn't even have a chance to cry out before he was unceremoniously pulled into the barrier before him.

The first thought that came to the swordsman's mind was to project something and rip himself free. This was quickly crushed as he found himself in unimaginable pain for the second time in a matter of hours.

Link fell to the ground the moment the monster had released him. Throughout the pain of his coming transformation he still noticed that the mark on his hand had begun to glow. In less than a minute, the swordsman finished his transformation, losing consciousness in the form of a great wolf.

The last thought to cross his mind as the darkness overwhelmed him was a hope that this would be the last time he would have to go through rapturous amounts of pain in order to gain greater power. Sadly, that hope would not come to fruition despite the incredible show of willpower behind it.

For a magus like he had become, the only options in the search for greater power were either untold pain or death, and Link was not one of the few who could accept the second option.

/

'_Oh come on! Even the wakeup hurts just as much? How is that fair?'_ The swordsman growled as he threw off the last vestiges of unconsciousness from his mind. He then took a moment to look around and discern his current situation. '_So, now I'm in a prison cell, obviously miles away from home considering the composition is mainly stone and iron instead of wood. There's no one else here to explain what happened to me or where I am right now. Then, to top it all off, my paw has been chained to the wall….Wait, my paw?'_

With dawning realization, Link took a look at his new form. '_Wonderful, this is just wonderful. Not only does that asshole forget to tell me that I would be dragged into that barrier by a freaking monster, but he also forgets to so much as mention that I would end up turning into a damn wolf!'_ Another growl came out of his jaws. '_The next time I see him I'm gonna…'_

"It looks like you're awake little beast." A strange voice much like a young girls giggled out from an indiscernible location. "Of course, it also looks like you've gotten yourself into a bit of trouble." The wolf now detected the cruel edge to the voice and bared his fangs in response.

"Oh, you think I'm your enemy little beast?" Finally, the owner of the voice revealed herself to the hero, floating down to stand in front of his cell. "But I am the only person here in this entire building that could possibly help you. All you have to do is obey me until my desires are satisfied and I will have you out of that cage in no time. You might even find that our goals are one and the same if you simply take time to think about it." The imp giggled once more.

'_Oh please don't tell me that "she" is the one I'm supposed to follow!" _The wolf mentally groaned while signaling his agreement to the imp's terms with a movement of his head and chained paw.

"I guess you see things my way then." The imp smiled as she broke the wolf's chain with a small burst of magic. She jumped onto the hero's back the moment that her new companion had left his cell. "By the way little beast, my name is Midna." She then grabbed him painfully by the ear. "And I would suggest that you uphold your end of the bargain, unless of course you wish to find out just how I deal with foolish idiots." The imp's smile was almost predatory as she released her ride.

'_No, death is faaaaarrr to good for that bastard. By the time I'm through with him, he'll wish I'd simply killed him for this.'_ The wolf thought to himself as he began making his way out of the prison.

/

Between the monsters, insults, discovery of his form's full abilities, ghosts, and even his first structural grasping (Which he had been completely unprepared for.); It had taken Link almost an hour to get to the rooftops. The sights were rather…Disconcerting to say the least.

"So, I take it that you like the view, or is it just your shock at finally realizing how far you were taken while you slept." Midna responded to the wolf's sudden pause in that egotistical voice that continued to grate on his already frayed nerves. "Personally, I like the change in scenery myself. The twilight makes for a rather unique and beautiful atmosphere wouldn't you agree?"

'_Beautiful? This place looks like a ghost town in hell, not a damn painting. What in the world happened while I was just sitting contentedly in my village?'_ The hero angrily responded to her words in his own head before forcing himself to continue in the directions the imp told him to.

Despite the formidable agility and griping power inherent to his form, Link found it difficult to negotiate the winding path of rooftops and battlement he was led over. '_It doesn't help that it feels extremely weird to be running around like this. I just hope that…No, every time I hope for something everything goes terribly wrong. I KNOW I will find a way to return to my original form!'_

Finally, after a grueling stretch of roughshod rooftops, the two unlikely companions found themselves entering a rather spacey guard tower.

'_So help me, if I find one more oversized rat or bat on the way to this place the damn imp is sending me, I'm going to scream no matter how hard I have to try to do it. Honestly, I thought that the only time sewers were overrun by these creeps was in stories!'_ Thoughts flashed through the wolf's mind as he raced to the top of the tower.

The two found the door at the top slightly ajar and quickly pushed their way in. "Looks like we're here." Midna put on her usual grin as the two looked the room over.

'_I'm still waiting to see what's so special about this place. All I see are the things you'd expect to see in some nobles chambers. In fact, aside from the other occupant at the window, the room was actually fairly empty.'_ It took him a moment to realize what was special about the figure at the window.

He or she was still physically existent. The twilight had not affected them as it had the knights he'd seen throughout the complex he had run through. After getting past his shock, Link began walking up to the figure even as he felt Midna float off his back.

"Midna?" the figure turned to look at the two companions. "I see you've brought the hero here. Good, we have little time to prepare him before he must begin his quest to save both our worlds." A female voice called out from the hood.

"True, but I think that you should let our little beast here, learn of how this all came to pass… Twilight Princess." The imp giggled even as the figure lowered her head.

"Indeed, he should know about what has happened, although I would hope that you will be regaining that title for yourself soon enough." The figure then brought her hood down to reveal her face even as she looked at the wolf. "My name is Zelda, and this is how I failed my kingdom."

/

After listening to the princess's rendition of her surrender to Zant, the two companions were quickly forced to flee when a guard patrol came up to check on her. Her last words were to inform Link that he was the only hope they had for stopping the Usurper king.

'_Perfect, it looks like I have even more problems then I originally thought. Honestly, two entirely different threats to the world at once? How is that fair?'_ The hero mused as he and the imp walked the battlements.

"Well, I guess I should take you to go look at your village one last time before we start taking care of my task. After all, you might not get another chance to see them again." Link gave her a glare as another growl left his jaws. He then gave a quick twitch of his head towards his back.

"Glad to see you're becoming more obedient my little beast." The wolf gave the giggling imp another glare before she began warping them home.

'_This is going to be a long quest, that's for sure.'_

/

"Looks like Tritous really did a number here before leaving this place." Shade mused out loud as he overlooked a broken world. All around him lay the rubble and battle scars remaining from a titanic clash that had clearly ended in what the religious of this timeline likely called Armageddon. "Although… It certainly looks better than some of the other timelines I've seen ravaged when some overpowered jackass decides to destroy everything around him."

The cloaked man began exploring the ruins around him. Analyzing everything in an attempt to determine exactly what had happened in the timeline's final days. What he found was not promising.

"All I can see is the wreckage a large army might produce, not the widespread devastation inherent to a battle between beings of incredible levels of power." The man grumbled in clearly heard frustration. "What happened to bring a decisive end to this timeline? You can't just make one completely uninhabitable like this without doing something cataclysmic on a cosmic scale!"

Then he saw it.

Hidden behind an ever-shifting storm of magical energy, a crater stood that looked to be about a third of earth's diameter and almost reaching the planet's core. It also formed the eye of the countless storms of magic, energy, matter, and other basic building blocks of creation.

"So _that's_ where the final clash occurred." All other emotion left Shade's voice as his curiosity overtook him. In a matter of minutes, he carefully weaved his way into the center of the crater. His blade quickly came into his hand as he began focusing on the remaining energies left from the decisive clash of this timeline.

"I can't determine what happened here from just the energies present. Even after all the degradation that occurred from the storms of chaotic magic, I can feel extremely high amounts of energy from several different sources including…." Storm called out distractedly to the man. "…The Second Magic, The Fifth, a ton connected to nature and its manipulation, holy, countless background ones, and far more of the power that Zelretch showed us."

"So all we know is that the Nasuverse's greatest champions all made their final stand here, and that they were all more or less curb-stomped by Tritous." Shade shook his head, tired of the constant complications that had come up since that day years ago. "If that's true….Then how in the world did the son-of-a-bitch end up in a Zelda timeline?"

Several hours passed as the two explored the battle ground. Finally, Shade gave up on finding a battle and decided to try a different approach.

"Storm, I need you to try and cut through the background static and determine if any bounded fields were setup here. It's unlikely, but maybe someone managed to catch him by surprise and randomly teleported him away or something."

The man stood waiting for a response for several minutes while Storm attempted to answer his question. "Actually, it appears that there was exactly one successfully setup here. Just give me a moment to determine its purpose and…. You are not going to believe this!"

"What's it do Storm?" Shade asked, his curiosity having been peaked the moment she began speaking.

"It's designed to warp reality within this area. In fact, I can clearly identify it as Archer's even though I was thrown off by the size at first. Is it usual for his reality marble to encompass an area the size of this entire crater while he is under Alaya's control?" She asked in amazement.

"No, that is not usual. It does however; appear that we now have a possible cause for Tritous' little trip to Hyrule. I think we're going to need to have a look at this fight. Storm, I need you to let us look into the past starting at about 10 minutes before Archer deployed his reality marble got it?" The man quickly came to a decision on the topic.

His blade flashed green in response, and his viewpoint suddenly shifted.

/

Lightning flashed and rain fell in a torrent. Even from this distant location, the fires and smoke that raged all across the world were visible. Within the crater, the situation was even grimmer.

"Is this all you have Gaia? Even the weakest of our fellows did better than this." A voice issued forth from within. Its owner possessed a humanoid form and yet was far larger than any man could ever hope to be. Even it's ebony-colored, crystalline skin and the lines of crimson flame crisscrossing its body to meet at the two large flares that were its eyes demonstrated its inhumanity.

"No, this is not even close to my full ability Tritous. You would do well to remember the differences between me and the others." Another humanoid of rock and vines replied with anger.

"What differences? We both know that alone you aren't even a match for Brunestud, let alone myself, without your precious humans to fight for you. Look around you, your reality marble is in ruins, you're humans are either dead, dying, or possessed by my own puppets, and your champions lie strewn across the battlefield." The beings contempt was obvious as he gestured around himself.

The point being made was obvious. Zelretch lay crumpled, unmoving on the ground. Aoko was on the edge of the crater with half her body blown off. The most shocking of the dead had to be the white moon princess though; all that remained of her was an outline of ash upon the ground that persisted even through the rain.

Gaia growled, barely restraining her impulse to attempt to crush the foe before her.

"While your resistance is rather amusing to me, it is ultimately futile Gaia. We both know how this is going to end." Tritous continued with a smug expression on his face.

Just before the other Type within the crater began what would likely have been a death charge another figure appeared amidst the carnage. Its appearance belied the truth of its existence, and yet glorified in it at the same time. The newcomer took the form of a human being who's traits were constantly shifting: at one moment blond and the next brunette, at one moment of Japanese descent and the next of African.

"Actually, we do have one remaining option left to us. Even if it will lead to our death, chances are you will be joining us." It spoke with all the emotion in the world and none of it, ever a paradox.

"Ahhhhh, it appears that Alaya has joined us for our final clash! What is it that you expect to achieve when all of your pathetic spirits have been slain by either myself or my puppets?" Tritous' laughing could be heard from miles away. "You think that I can be defeated even now that my advantages are obvious? What a fool you are."

"When did anyone ever say that I sent all of my Counter Guardians out to slay you?" Alaya riposted with a simultaneous smirk and frown. "I would have thought that someone as powerful as yourself would understand the need to save a trump card until the end. Although, I truly doubt that you would be willing to give your life in order to insure your foes destruction."

"How can one Counter Guardian possibly defeat him even if I do as you are clearly suggesting? None of the others so much as left a scratch on him before they were slaughtered." Gaia looked with doubt upon the lesser part of her existence.

"Do you have a better plan? I believe it because I know this Guardian well, he will not fail us."

The world's manifestation took a final look at the scenery around it. "Unfortunately no, I have no better plan. So you had better hope this spirit of yours can defeat our foe." With those final words, Gaia dissolved into a shower of sparks that flowed into Alaya.

"I am waiting to see who it is that you have so graciously chosen as my final opponent. Do not disappoint me." Tritous taunted with a bored tone.

Alaya turned to face him. "Then here he is…. just remember… I will soon be seeing you in the afterlife." Its voice echoed as it disappeared, only to be replaced by the red Archer himself.

"I see that even in death, those two have retained their sense of humor, or had they merely be driven insane by the destruction of everything they had created? Regardless, I am waiting to be impressed by you. What god-slaying weapon or unparalleled magecraft is it that you intend to bring against me?" The crystalline humanoid spoke without even a spark of interest towards the passionless swordsman who confronted him.

And then flames began to form a ring around the crater they inhabited.

This gained the Type's attention immediately. "A reality marble, I must certainly say that you were an inspired choice on their part. Though I must ask how it is that you expect to defeat me when far greater existences then yourself have tried the same tactic and failed." He took a moment to look at the empty shell before his eyes. "Ohhhh, rigggghhhht… You've been stripped of your very personality haven't you? The point remains the same regardless; there is no possible way that your world can stand against…"

The hill of swords that replaced the scarred battlefield, complete with its ashen clockwork sky, instantly silenced the speaker.

"What is this…What manner of being are you to create a world that creates infinite blades? " Those were the only words that Tritous could get out in his shock.

The swordsman reached out a hand to grab one of the countless blades around him, and then signaled the beginning of the battle by dashing towards his foe, the steel of those very same blades immediately launching itself from the sky as if to replace the rain.

The Type simply knocked the blades aside as they came, charging at his foe with irritation clouding his vision. Despite this, the downpour of blades merely left hundreds of nicks in his flesh even when he failed to block them.

The moment they collided began a new stage in their battle. Each strike from the swordsman being blocked by the superior abilities of his foe, who in turn found himself stymied by the swordsman's incredible skill and technique. Archer easily replaced each blade he inevitably lost with another either from the sky or the ground nearby.

Finally, Tritous made to end it decisively with a blast of fire from his jaws, only to be hurled away as the swordsman countered with **Nine Lives Bladeworks.**

Before his foe could recover, the swordsman continued his assault, noble phantasm after noble phantasm tearing chunks from the Type's skin, finally ending with an Overedge strike from Kanshou and Bakuya.

With a roar, Tritous lunged at the swordsman, attempting to gain vengeance for the large pits left in his arms only to have his opponent to retreat, covered by the renewed storm of blades that had begun Breaking midflight. Their explosions blended together into a single huge ball of light.

"I am the bone of my sword." Thus Archer emotionlessly intoned the first words of the battle.

"I have had enough of this farce, Perish!" Crimson flames leaped out to intercept the broken phantasms pouring down from the skies. Rage was clear even in the Type's scarred form.

"Excalibur." Tritous had but a moment to glimpse upon the foe that had made a mockery of him, just enough time to notice the gleaming sword-arrow Archer had nocked before he fired.

Then the crystalline Humanoid was replaced by an immense pillar of golden light.

What seemed like an eternity passed before the light faded away, the swordsman standing stoically all the while. Several moments passed as the dust slowly cleared from the air.

In an instant, the peace shattered. Several spears of crystal suddenly burst out from the cloud with such speed that the sound barrier was shattered ten times over by each. The Counter Guardian stood no chance of escaping, even so, he managed to leap away fast enough that he only lost his left arm.

Quickly, he acted to arm himself, grabbing and swinging a copy of Caliburn. As his blade whistled through the air however, he was grabbed by the wrist with one hand while his foe blasted him away with a punch to the gut.

The man in red finally landed a distance away after a dozen of his blades had crumpled to decelerate him. The only thing holding him together at this point was his instinctual reinforcement.

"I will admit to you now Guardian, you have certainly dealt the most damage I have ever suffered in a single fight since I fought with the strongest of my fellows years ago." A considerable amount of the humanoids body had been obliterated by the assault that he had endured, but he still acted as if he were in perfect condition. "However, this farce is at an end now so…"

Grabbing the fallen hero by the throat, Tritous lifted him to eye level. "…Any last words before I take your life?"

For a few moments, Archer continued to look on dispassionately, and then, slowly, spirit returned to his eyes before he closed them.

"I guess the idiot was right. This truly is our only path." He whispered before opening his eyes and giving his foe a defiant smirk.

"You act as if you still think you can win this even as I stand here with my hand to your throat." The Type was incredulous as he considered the determination in the hero's eyes.

"Of course I can, after all, you seem to have forgotten one thing." Suddenly, cracks began to appear all throughout the reality marble. "You see, I have participated as a Servant in the Holy Grail War countless times, and each time, this reality marble served as my noble phantasm." The cracks began to shine with the ashen flames of a forge as they continued expanding into the skies above and the hill they stood on.

"What are you doing? Answer me fool!" Tritous roared, having unknowingly become nervous about his prospects.

"Perhaps if you took a moment to think you might have escaped this but now it's too late for you." The white-haired man answered with a sudden burst of snark. "But seeing as I am a rather kind person I will answer your question. You see, the most powerful function of a noble phantasm is not its actual abilities, great though those may be, instead, it is the overloading and detonating of the noble phantasm that leads to its greatest ability as one, and what I've done here is rather simple." He then leaned forward to whisper in his foe's ear.

"I have broken my reality marble."

With an instant scream of fear, Tritous hurled Archer away from himself and attempted to escape, but as the Counter Guardian had told him. There would be none.

In the next instant, the entire world shattered as the overloaded prana sundered its very roots.

The Type didn't even have a chance to curse his fate or his enemies before the power consumed him.

/

"So that's how it happened." Shade snapped back to the present as the battle reached its conclusion.

"This is much worse then we feared. That…Thing is far more powerful than even we estimated." Storm fretted over the new information.

"It's certainly an interesting development. Not only is our foe more powerful than was expected, but apparently his reality marble creates a kind of parasitic organism that can control the minds of the various life forms around them." The cloaked man mused for a few moments before getting to his feat. "Regardless, we won't find anything else here. It's time that we cleaned out this area of the multiverse."

With those words, the green blade in Shade's hand began to glow once more. This time though, the glow not only remained but continued to grow until it rivaled even the brightest stars. Slowly he shifted into a position to swing his blade.

"In this hour, creation itself finds a branch that must be shed. A branch far too sickly to be saved and of far too much risk to simply leave in place. Now, I call on the powers of my dominion." Shade intoned as power built to its peak.

"Let the sands of time cleanse creation." He swung his blade.

In that instant, the entire timeline he had stood in was burned away by a sea of green power.

Stop

_Damn it, can I write just one fight scene already that doesn't feel like I'm paraphrasing everything. So how did you like it, I know the last two scenes probably sucked but it's not like I really have a basis on which to base the first one (Besides "lol fanfiction" of course.)And the other is me dealing with a mythos that I'm kinda trying to build as I go along. All in all, please grin, bear it, and let me know of any improvements that I could make as you see them._

_ WolvesOfLightning: Well, thanks for being my fifth reviewer. While I also hope that I can get more reviews, I think that the main reason for not getting them is that it doesn't exactly look like the kind of story that's easy to get engaged in. All that aside, I will let you know right here that I have no intention of having Shade fight Link's battles for him. The closest he will come is keeping him from getting killed at exactly two different points in the story, and in neither of those will fighting or dealing with the issue for him ever be the way I have Shade do so. On the topic of not understanding him though: Emotionally, that's completely understandable, I don't even understand myself so why would you. Plot wise though, Shade basically serves as my way of getting Link to develop in the way I want him to without pulling OOC or over abusing the aforementioned "lol fanfiction." (It's a Nasuverse fanfic, I'm already going to have to play it several times just to create a workable structure.)_

_Aside from that, if anyone has any questions, they can ask in whatever way they wish. (If you need additional information from me to do so wellll… Then I hope that you can tell me how to find and get it to you because I certainly won't know for the most part. I'm still a noob here.)_

_Edit: Sorry, I forgot to thank RanmaBushiko of Beast's Lair for the idea of Breaking a reality marble (A marble Phantasm in his case but I still should acknowledge where the idea likely came from.)  
_


End file.
